Could this be the storage tech that replaces hard disks and supersedes solid-state drives? UK-based developer DataSlide believes so, claiming to have the others licked with magnetic but non-rotating system it’s calling Hard Rectangular Drive.

DataSlide’s technology centres on a sheet of magnetic material mounted beneath a laminate read-write ‘head’. The media layer is double-sided, so there’s a second read-write sheet beneath. All three layers – and, presumably, more sets above and below them – fit inside a standard 3.5in drive casing and are sandwiched with lubricant.

The read-write layer comprises a grid of millions of read-write heads created using the same lithography process used to make silicon chips. Each head is controlled by sending a signal along the appropriate row and column of the grid.